Sen of the Elements
by UnAwakening
Summary: Sen is not normal. Having connections with plants and trees stronger than those with her family is not right. Then Seth arrives school one day, and after gaining Sens trust he tells a tale of the three elements, what they mean to them both, and how Sen could possibly save an entire race from dying out!
1. Chapter 1 - Seth

**Sen of the elements**

_**Chapter one: Seth **_

I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Long black hair tumbled down my shoulders, and eyes as black as night looked straight back at me mysteriously. My skin, as pale as a ghosts, made me wonder if I would ever look normal.

"Sen! Get down here now you're going to be late!" Mums angry voice echoed from down the stairs. I shook my head and sighed, then turned around and walked downstairs. "Can you ever hurry up? Even your little sister is ready for school before you are," Mum glared, and a five year old Louise smiled sweetly next to her, bag in hand. I opened my mouth to say something rude when I heard a meow from upstairs. Oops, I was going to get into _big_ trouble for this. I coughed loudly.

"You go on, I''ll tell the teacher there was traffic on the way," I said hurriedly."Honestly, I can walk, it's only fifteen minutes away. And your sweet darling pumpkin needs to go to baby school," I added, struggling not to laugh as Louises face went red.

"It's not baby school it's primary school!" she screamed at me. Mum picked her up and power-walked out of the door before things started getting nasty.

"Goodbye Sen, and if you don't have 100% attendance at the end of the school year I'm going to be very angry!" Mum threatened me, then slammed the door. I didn't move until I heard the car start, and waited ten seconds for it to move out of the parking space and drive off. I breathed a sigh of relief and bolted upstairs.

"MEOW!" I went straight into my room and giggled.

"Leo! You silly thing! How the hell did you get yourself tangled in that!" I picked up the mass of fluff and a sock. I unhooked his claws from the material and slid his tiny body from the wool. The kitten jumped around the room, his fur was blonde and he had brown at the tip of his tail and on his neck. I found him sprawled near the bins in the street, and took him to my bedroom secretly. He was infested with fleas so I lied to the vet that he was mine and that he had gone missing one year ago, but that I had seen him in the town and was certain he was the same cat. Yes, I had him treated and paid for it with my pocket money, but it was worth his life and he was only two years old!

I stroked his fur soothingly, but he gave me the 'thanks - but - I - don't - want - to - be - petted - at - this - precise - moment - in - time' look and so I stopped. My Mum hates all animals so this was the first time I'd ever touched a pet cat before in all of the fifteen years I'd been on earth. If she found out about Leo then I'd be in huge trouble.

"Don't get into trouble while I'm gone," I told him, and then grabbed my shoulderbag. Leo mewed at me at let his ears flop and his eyes droop. A thought came into my head. I must be mad, I told myself, but grabbed a smaller bag and opened it wide. Leo just stared at me, questioning what I was asking him to do.

"I thought you wanted to come with me! Make up your mind I'm going to be late!" I said firmly. Leo let out a last meow and then padded into the bag. I slung both of my bags onto my shoulder and let the kitten poke his head out of the smaller one. "Ready?" I asked, and then jogged out the door and locked it with the spare key. Leo speed the air at a passing butterfly but I couldn't stop now.

I glanced at the clock in the school corridor. I was quarter of an hour late. I pushed Leo's head inside the bag and almost fully zipped it up, but left a space for him to breathe from, then ran strode to my locker. I grabbed my Latin books and my science folders, and set the bag on top of my soft jumper, then unzipped it.

"I won't be long, don't do anything stupid like meowing for help, because if somebody hears you you'll be getting the opposite of help and so will I. Understand?" and at that I walked to my registration.

I knocked at the classroom door. I hear Mrs Ray ask me in.

"Sorry I'm late. The traffic was heavy from our way," I say, waiting for her reply.

"You seem to be coming in late quite a lot recently Miss Blair. This is a warning, one more in the next month and you can see the head. Go to your seat," Mrs Ray answered sharply. I nodded and headed to my seat at the back of the classroom, next to the window. I heard a few of the girls laugh and it took effort not to stand up and shout a thousand rude words to the whole world. But I managed. Just like I always had done, I stayed quiet and sometimes the only words I would speak at school were those to myself. And when teachers picked on me.

It was then that I noticed. There was a boy just a bit taller than me with black scraggly hair standing at the front of the classroom. His eyes were bright green and it was as though you could see pictures in them.

"Year 10, this is Seth. He's come from Adeve School which isn't that far from here. Please make him feel welcome," Mrs Ray told us. This was the bad thing, it looked like the only space left in th class was next to me, and I liked to be left alone. If he was a chatterbox then I might just... "Oh no, where's the register... oh yes, reception must have it," Mrs Ray remembered and walked down to the office.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, but you'll have to sit on your own at the back," Chloe Smith said to Seth. He seemed confused until I gave him an I'm - not - here look, and propped my head on my hand and gazed out the window, shutting out Chloes words. To my surprise Seth said nothing as he sat down next to me. "Shall I come and sit next to you?" Chloe smiled evily, and she did a sort of girly catwalk over to my chair. She actually _SAT_ on me! And boy, is she fat and heavy, compared to my skinny arms and legs! I balled my hands into fists and squeezed my eyes shut, snapping my pencil in half during the process.

"Ooh, it's feels like I'm sitting on something! But it must be just me because there's absolutely nothing here," Chloe continued, but I stayed quiet and waited for it all to be over. Come on Mrs Ray! I thought in my head, and it's almost as if she heard my pleading, because there were footsteps in the hallway. Chloe stood up and went back to her usual seat. I breathed a silent sigh of relief but then looked at my now broken pencil.

"Here," I looked at the new boy, and nodded, taking the pencil. I wasn't going to talk to this nice stranger-somehow I felt that it wasn't right.

The first two lessons went smoothly, and as soon as the bell went I laid the pencil on Seth's desk and ran off to my locker before he could ask any questions. I smiled when I saw Leo in my locker, curled up into a little ball of fluff. I poked his soft fur gently and he opened one eye. I began to hear students chattering down the corridor, so I pushed the animal into the bag and zipped it , then strode outside to the place where nobody goes. The school forest.


	2. Chapter 2 - The forest

_**Chapter 2: The Forest**_

Ok, so not every school has a forest. And I suppose this wasn't really a forest, just lots of tall trees which had entwined themselves together with their branches. And nobody was allowed to go there-it was the school rules. But it was my favourite place to go and no stupid teacher could stop me from entering. I had gone inside so many times that I knew my way around like the back of my hand.

I felt a paw from inside the bag and so I scaled my favourite tree and undid the bag. Leo seemed somewhat unfazed by the height and started purring loudly, while I layed back and stared at the clouds, moving in long wisps across the sky. Sometimes my Mum would call me a plant, seeing as I spent most of my time out in the forests at school and at home. It seems that I had some connection with the flowers there, and could feel the life around me, buzzing through my ears. This was where I belonged.

I heard a noise, like a twig snapping. Then another, and another, and I sprang from the tree like a cat, landing on the floor in exactly the right position. My eyes widened, that felt so good! I imagined myself as a wild cat, springing from tree to tree and then running faster and faster through the undergrowth. Then I snap out of my dreams because I could sense somebody was here, the one who had been carelessly snapping twigs. Whoever this person was they obviously didn't know their way around the school or the rules and regulations. Maybe they were new, which meant...

I knew who this was. It was the new boy, Seth. I could speak to him now, I had power, I had backup all around me. He had followed me here, I thought. My eyes burned like wildfire and I prepared to pounce- but then, I stopped. He had put a hand on my shoulder, and I shook it off. Once he saw my eyes he took a step back.

"They never said that it had become this bad," he breathed in horror. "You have to get out of here NOW!" he grabbed my arm bit he couldn't move me. Fur settled itself down on my shoulders, and Leo clawed my face. Then my eyes turned back to their normal black self, and I stroked his back with my hand. "Err, Sen?" Seth asked. I turned around and my heart started thumping so loudly that the life around me that had felt so like myself disappeared altogether. I placed a hand to my head, and looked at Seth, upset and so scared I just wanted to go home. I suddenly burst into tears and sobbed. I didn't notice at the time, but he did. A plant at my feet turned brown, withered and died. The bag which I had left up on the tree fell down and I caught it without looking. Then I took off, bolted through the trees, running as fast as I could from the confused boy frowning, and from what I thought I could stay in forever.

I looked in the mirror. Yes, the same strange ghostly face stared back at me. I wiped my tears away with my sleeve, and took a deep breath. What had even happened that made me so sad? Maybe it was Seth saying things about me that I didn't understand. What the heck was he talking about, me being worse than he'd thought? He doesn't know anything about me! Nobody does! I wish he'd just leave me alone to live my lonely life. I felt like he'd destroyed a part of me, the part that linked me with the trees and the plant life. I shook the last events out of my head and smoothed my hair. It was cold in there and goosebumps crawled their way up my arms, so I tried to rub them off. Then I heard an all-to-familiar voice outside the door, the very voice that I never wanted to hear. I spun around and charged into the closest cubicle, slammed the door, and locked it.

"I mean, I know that you would go for the more laid back type, but my crush would be the exact opposite of that. He'd be more lively, and _fun_. Trust you to want a really boring boyfriend," Chloe said to one of her friends.

"Being laid back is not boring, it's just less doing stuff and more talking," Chloes friend replies. I almost laugh out loud! Trust Chloe and her gang to be talking about boys in interval, we're complete opposites! While I'm climbing trees in the beauty of the woods, she's chatting in the bathroom! We must live completely different lives!

"Chloe, you have to believe her. The only person in the class who doesn't have a crush is Sen Blair!" another voice said. Then they all laughed, and so did I, believe it or not. What they didn't understand about me was that I liked living my life alone, and having somebody there with me who didn't feel the same way about things like I did would just put me down, and we'd never get along. The bathroom was in silence for a few minutes as I assumed the group were applying make-up and had to concentrate. I imagined myself jumping out at them from behind the door and making them scream. God, I'd pay for something like that to happen.

"Meeeeooooowwwww," Leo fidgeted on my shoulder. I nudged him into the small bag and gave him a do - that - again - and - we're - both - dead look but he didn't seem to understand that time and it only confused him even more.

"Please, Leo, just this once," I whispered to him pleadingly. Seriously, if I was found out I would be killed everyday for the rest of my life.

Well ok, that doesn't really make sense but I'm sure you understand what I mean. But it wasn't the space he had that was making him fidget. It was then I realised that he must be starving hungry. I almost slapped myself, how could I forget the most basic pet rule? I had left my lunch and my bag in my locker, which I couldn't get to right now, so what could I do?

"Ok girls, let's move out," Chloe said, and I heard a rustle and then footsteps as they collected their things and walked out of the bathroom door. I breathed a sigh of relief and waited a few minutes before letting myself out of the cubicle and through the door. That had been too close.

When I got to my locker I gave Leo some ham from my sandwich to eat while I took some maths books and headed for my next lesson, leaving Leo in there.

You may have said there would be an awkward silence between me and Seth but then there always was with me. I came back from asking the maths teacher for a pencil, but was surprised because the seat next to me was empty. There was only a note on the desk with my name on it. I swiped it up before the teacher noticed it was there and read it himself.

I gazed at the letter for a long time long after the lesson had started. What if there was something in there that I didn't want to see, something that might make me let my emotions out so suddenly that I start to cry like in the forest. But by the end of the lesson I had made up my mind.

I had to open it. Whatever was inside, it was about me and it was important for me to find out about myself. So as soon as we we're dismissed I sprinted away to my locker and grabbed my things, then called Mum to say not to pick me up. I did that a lot, and now she just assumed I was going into the forests, and wasn't worried because I had always come back home before 9:00 in the evening. But today, for the first time ever I wanted to stay away from them, it felt not so much like home last time I ventured inside at break.

I found myself a bench outside the nearby playpark, and with trembling hands I opened the note. It said:

**Dear Sen,**

**I don't know what came over you in the woods, or why you won't speak to me. To anyone. But I know things about you that you don't, and it would be a good decision to do as I say or you could start to get out of control.**

**I am worried about you, and what your life could turn into if you can't understand the two different types of things: **

**Plants and Animals.**

**Please come to meet me at the bridge near Foxholes Road at 4:00 and if you don't turn up I will assume that you need special help.**

**Thanks for reading this, and if you are not Sen, please could you give it to her a.s.a.p. **

**There was a reason I couldn't come to the rest of school today,**

**Seth**

I dropped the note on the floor. I was right-he did know something about me. But he got one thing wrong, and that was that I knew about plants more than he did, and the difference between them and animals. I was inbetween, halfway between both. My looks were human, but my feelings were those of a plant.

But I didn't know which one kept pulling me to meet him at the bridge. I mean, why should I go off with someone I barely knew? What I had experienced so far in my life is that your feelings are usually right, so this time I decided to trust them. The thing is, as I stood up, something very unexpected happened.

"You did it, I know you did you selfish pig!" Chloe screamed behind me. I gasped, how long had she been there? "Speak up!" she sobbed. I put my hands up and shook my head, backing away. Two of her friends were standing behind her.

"Don't give us the silent treatment, you know what she means," the taller of the two yelled. Then the shorter girl gave me a killing glare.

"God, for once in your life, SPEAK!" she frowned at me. "Can't you see what this means to Chloe?" she rubbed Chloe shoulders. I suddenly decided that I should settle this, and although the poor girl had been mean to me in the past, she was obviously very upset about something. I blinked.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. And I'm sort of in a rush I need to get to the bridge by 4:00 and-" I began, but was interrupted.

"You know exactly what we're on about, and I think Chloe needs an apology," the shorter girl demanded. When I stood there blank, the taller girl huffed and opened her much-too-big mouth.

"Chloe thought she heard something in the bathroom today. And now we know who it was. Everybody knows that she has a crush on him and now you opened your mouth and told him. And he must not like her by your description and he ditched school. _Now_ do you understand what we're on about?"

I waited a few seconds, stunned. I assumed they were talking about Seth, but he only came to school today, what THE HELL. I could see by my watch that it was 3:58, and that meant I had to go right now, or Seth might give me a psychiatrist or something. I had to settle this.

"You have half of that right, and half of that wrong. Yes, I was in the bathroom while you were in there as well, but I had no clue you liked Seth. And I don't speak to people very much, so why in the world would I have told him that?" I asked, turning my head slightly sideways. This time it was Chloe who shouted.

"Isn't it obvious? You want him for yourself!" she sniffed, then cried again, and trust me, it wasn't a very nice sound. I raised my eyebrows, my ordinary calm not-rushed self.

"I think you all know I never have had an interest in boys," I reply quietly. These kind of subjects always made me shy.

The next events shocked me. The three of them ganged up together and began to throw stuff at me, anything from litter to school books and pencils to bags and lunchboxes. I looked around in desperation for somewhere to go, but the only place I could think of was the woodland to my left. I looked at my watch.

3:59 p.m... I had to get out of here. The forest was my only option. I clumsily ducked under Chloe swinging arm, and charged into the trees. Once inside, the wind whipped past my face and I nearly closed my eyes, but forced them open. Though the forest was pulling me further inside, I had to focus on what I was trying to do. I searched my brain frantically, and then I had it. I had to do something that they couldn't. I scanned the greenery for the right tree, but there weren't any in sight. I caught sight of one with half the qualities of a good climbing tree. I could hear the gang hot on my heels as I skidded to a halt and hoisted myself up onto the first branch of the tree. This was a skill my father had taught me, and was the only thing I could think of that they couldn't do. I hugged the thick bark, and put my foot down on what I thought was a steady, firm ledge. But I was wrong, and I bit my tongue to swallow a scream. I was lucky that I wasn't that high up. Nevertheless, I twisted my hips in the air and landed on the ground with my feet.

"Oh so you've got some ninja moves, have you? Well that won't stop this," I heard a sniggering voice behind my back. I didn't have time to react as all three of them made a triangle and threw a net over my head. My instincts made me fall to the floor and cover my head with my hands.

"See how you like that ghost-girl!" Chloe laughed. I struggled and squirmed in the net for ages, but I just seemed to be getting myself even more tangled up. I finally curled up I no a ball and shook with fear. How long would I be here? Would somebody come to get me out? What if they didn't? A tear fell from my eye and onto a fallen leaf and I gasped as it turned from green to flaky brown. I rubbed my eyes-I must have made a mistake. But the leaf was still brown. And it didn't change again.

I had grabbed a very Sharp stone from the ground and started sawing. I guess being in the forest gave me more energy or something, either that or the rope was so weak that it could be cut with a plain stone in just over five minutes. I rolled out of the tangled mass of net and leaves. I rubbed my arms.

I looked at my watch. 4:07 p.m. There was still time to get to Seth. To prove to him that I'm not so stupid that I wouldn't turn up. I charged through the trees, past the bench, and down to Foxholes Road and to the bridge. I clambered up the steps and stood there breathless.

He wasn't there. I had missed him. I covered my eyes with my hands. This was all my fault, and now I would still have no clue what I was and what to avoid. I needed to meet him, and now he must think that I was even more stupid and careless. I looked at the ground, and started trudging back across the bridge.

"Hey, looking for me?" I heard a voice and spun around, my black hair flying over my shoulder. I froze.

It was Seth.


	3. Chapter 3 - Learning about myself

Chapter 3: Learning about myself

I stared him in the eye, dead serious. He was wearing a black shirt and dark jeans, but what really made me gasp was the colour of his eyes...

They had changed.

From a florescent green to a night sky blue. And that really freaked me out.

"Hey, um... You wanted to talk about something," I said quietly, tearing my own eyes from his and to the grey concrete ground.

"There's a lot to explain, and I can't tell it all to you now. And in my life I've found out for myself that seeing things teaches you better than listening," Seth turned around and started walking down the bridge. I had no clue to what he was on about, but something about this boy drew me in like a magnet. "Follow me," Seth stretched out his hand to me.

And I froze. I couldn't do this, I mean, I had been non-sociable person for so long that it just wasn't right. Or more that this wasn't the right way to do it. I sighed at my circling thoughts and instead of taking his hand went to his side. I saw him smile out of the corner of my eye.

"Hey, what's so funny about me?" I ask him, frowning.

"This is difficult to say but how you're acting is weird, considering what you are," Seth said, clearly amused. My facial emotions however still remained the same, partly because I didn't know what he was talking about. What I am? Was he out of his mind? He only just met me today, and now he was making weird assumptions about me?

"Um, Seth, I'm just slightly confused. What did you mean when you we're talking about plants and animals-I know the difference."

"You're wrong. If you knew the difference and how much energy you are... _wasting_...then you would stay away from the forests," Seth said slowly and clearly. His forehead creased into a frown. "There is so much you don't know..." He looked back at me with bright eyes, and smiled kindly. "You're going to have to take his slowly. Come on."

And so I followed him through an array of small houses, and through a dark alleyway filled with empty cans and grime coating the brick walls. All through the walk my heart was thumping and my head spinning. We would have to take turns asking each other questions, though I was certain I had many more than he did.

We had been walking for more than ten minutes passing through twisted roads and dirty walkways when he took my hand and pulled me towards a thick woodland. I gasped and yanked my hand back so hard I tripped over backwards and landed on the gravel. I groaned and rubbed my head.

"I'm not going back in there. You should have seen what happened last time-I couldn't get out," I told him. I stood up and shook some dirt off my jeans.

"I'm sure with some practice you'll be just fine," Seth replied. I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and took a deep breath. I could do this.

So we both trudged into the gloom and I gripped his hand hard, but he didn't flinch. I could see the different shades of green all around me as I stepped into the wood. But I gasped because couldn't feel the pulling sensation. Seth saw my face.

"This is a special wood. You Will only feel something when you pass the yellow line." And he pointed in front of me, and about five meters was the line.

"I don't understand. What use it is to me to be able to control myself in the Forests? I mean, nobody ever goes in them," I asked Seth, confused.

"The answer to that is a long and complicated one-" he started.

"I can keep up. I need to know. It's my life," I answered him. He motioned to the tree next to me. I walked forwards and stared up the tree, there was a good sitting branch up high, so I climbed it and he followed. Once we were both sitting on the branch he opens his mouth to speak.

"It all starts with this tree. A big oak tree right in the middle of a forest far from here. We call it the Tree of the elements. Every year the gifts of water, fire and wind are passed through the forest. The elements choose the fay they land on-"

"Um... fay?" I interrupted him.

"Oh, a cross between human and plant. Basically you look like a human but have the qualities of a plant. And there are some... certain things that define you from humans. Pale skin, dark hair and eyes that can change colour." he paused as I gazed at his eyes.

"What? You're a fay?" I asked him, wide eyed. He was right, I was going to have to take this _very_ slowly. I wobbled slightly on the branch, the bark scratching my hands and I steadied myself.

"Yes, I am a fay. But I never have been chosen to hold an element. I'm one of the lower types," Seth said and looked at the ground, slightly ashamed. "Back to the story, as I was saying, the element chooses the fay. The fay have no choice, even if they don't want to hold an element inside them. The whole of the population stand by the tree and the people are selected. The thing is, one day _some_ little girl was following a butterfly in that forest, at the same time, the same day, the same minute the tree was making the decision. And unfortunately the gift of an element was held inside her. And it still is," he looked towards me and then into the distance when he saw my blank expression.

"But what about the poor girl? Or could she not remember the day when she went into the woods and had the power of water, fire or wind dropped on her head," I said sarcastically. He sighed sadly, and I knew that he had something to do with this next bit.

"Everyone was panicking. This had never happened before. The girl was put in a cell until the queen could decide what to do with her. After a few hours, the decision was made. I had to make the memory potion myself, and believe me, this was the best way to deal with things. I mean, humans aren't even supposed to know about our existence, let alone steal a power."

"So that was it then. You memory drugged her. What happened to the parents?" I pushed him to tell me more. He started fidgeting now. I was angry at him, memory drugging somebody was never the right way to do things. I would be ashamed if it had been me.

"She came running out the forest to her parents, who moved away from the forest and down here. And she still has no idea what happened that day. And that was how it was supposed to be," Seth shrugged his shoulders. I frowned at him.

"Until..." I pleaded him. This was actually a very interesting conversation. He was watching the clouds through a gap in the tree we were on.

"Until about a week ago when some...unexpected visitors entered our land. The oak tree used to be protecting the gate to our land, but something happened. And now the tree is dying. Then they barged into our land and kidnapped the girl who has the element of fire. And used her to set fire to our lands-one third of our world has already been disintegrated. If we can't stop them then all the fay will be dead. Unfortunately the boy with the gift of wind can do nothing to stop the fire. Which means that we need to get the little girl back with the gift of water. She could put out the fires with some training." Then Seth turned to me.

"Ok, what does this have to do with me? Do you want me to go find her or something, because you are perfectly capable of doing that yourself-" I began.

"No. You see, this is the complicated part. The girl, with the water element, is a cross between human and fay. Which is a cross between human and plant. So the girl is two thirds human and one third fay. There is a red line in the particular forest that means you are close to the gate. Once the girl is inside she May not be able to get herself back out," Seth continued, and then looked at me seriously. "I was sent here with a lot of power to get her. It's you, Sen. You're that girl." I gasped.

"No. you're wrong, it can't be me. I'm just the stupid person who likes to stay alone by herself. I would never have gone into the forest. No way," I replied breathing quickly.

"Think about it. The barrier between the two worlds is very strong. If it wants you to be on the fay side instead then it Will keep pulling you towards it, and Will give you strength. What do you feel every time you step into a forest, Sen? This is where the barrier wants you. And I'm here because I care about you-"

"If you cared about me then why did you use a memory potion on me! And even attempt to convince me to-to go with you to the queen and to you're stupid war! I'm fifteen, Seth! _Fifteen_! I don't want to go into some war that you created!" I pushed myself off the branch of the tree and hit the ground with a thud, twisting my ankle and landing in a heap. I guesses I shouldn't have jumped from that high. Now how was I going to get out of here? I struggled to get up.

"You don't understand, Sen! Half of the fay knew that when you went through the gate you wouldn't have enough strength to get out again. And that's what I'm here for. I came to represent that half. I borrowed enough power to cross the barrier and now I'm on loan. If I can't train you to get back past the barrier then I will let down my half of the fay. I'm here to _help_ you!" Seth climbed down the tree to help me up. Once I had gained my balance, I let go of his shoulder and walked away from him.

"If you understood what I wanted then you wouldn't have come. Go use your fairy dust and go back to your land. I'm staying right here. Don't follow me," I whispered to him. I walked from the now even stranger being behind me, with my newfound knowledge.

A little girl in a dress skipped through the woods following a white butterfly. And then a second later she was snatched up with a pale pair of hands and thrown into a dirty cell. A purple liquid was poured into some water which she drunk and then there she was, running out of the green and into her parents arms. And the parents were mine...

I woke up in my bed. A tear fell from my eye. How could this be happening? My dreams had showed me the exact images I was trying to get away from. Was it really me, and if it was, could I really control water and end the fay war? But it wasn't my war. It was theirs, and why should I be a part of it. I pulled the quilt over my eyes, curled up into a ball and shook, shivering.

But I wasn't shivering because I was cold. I was shivering because I was scared.


	4. Chapter 4 - The right Choices

Chapter 4 - Am I making the right choices?

I yawned loudly and pushed myself out of bed. It was a Saturday, and I finally thought I had gotten over the whole human and plant thing. Me and Seth hadn't talked to each other for over a week. Something in my heart told me that I was doing the wrong thing, but I was trusting my head, and hopefully I would forget the whole thing soon. But I was wrong. I changed into a jacket and blue jeans and walked downstairs.

I wasn't hungry so I skipped breakfast and switched the tv on. I started watching some nature program about the world and how we were spoiling it, when a letter came through the door. I got up from the sofa and walked to the door. I gasped in horror as I recognized the familiar handwriting of Seth's on the cover. I opened it with trembling hands, and walked slowly back to the living room.

_**Hi Sen,**_

_**I hope you're enjoying your life, because I'm certainly not. **_

_**I think I should tell you who is destroying my home, though it seems your selfish heart will not care about the life of thousands of fay,**_

_**They're creatures with eyeballs rolled into the back of their heads, and blue veins strewn across their faces. They have sharp claws and grey clammy skin, and although they are small they can do a huge amount of damage. **_

_**It's like walking with the dead, Sen. And I am pleading now, for your gifts could save my family and my friends. It's my sister. She's only twelve years old, and she's in that war. Raging fires and winds blow the flames higher, and we can't stop them.**_

_**The goblins have stolen the boy with the power of wind as well. And they're torturing him and the fire girl to destroy their own city. **_

_**Watch the CD. And if your heart is truly what I believe it to be, then meet me by the tree we were on seven days ago.**_

_**Seth**_

I swallowed and took a deep breath. I could do this. I couldn't keep the truth from myself for ever. And I couldn't live with myself with the knowledge of killing thousands of fay. Seth was in my life now. No more pushing him away.

I slid the CD out from the letter and inserted it into the DVD player in the tv. I sat back and watched the screen light up-

I forgot to turn the volume down, and the sound of war made an ugly echo around the room. I didn't turn it down because it was only a ten second clip. I almost screamed when I saw what must be the goblins. They were bony creatures, with their spines and shoulder bones sticking out and stretching their wrinkly skin. Their eyes were just white with bright red veins in zigzag patterns across the surface. Their bald heads and skinny bodies were so disturbing, and that was before I saw one open it's mouth and scream a high pitched, piercing, torturous scream through sharp metal teeth. They looked indestructible. I saw small pale people use swords to try and defend their world. They we're all highly skilled but seemed useless because there wasn't enough of them and the goblins were to strong.

"MMMUUUMMMMMMMMYYY!" I heard a cry from the stairs. I jumped and spun around to see my little sister on the stairs, tears streaming down her red face. I switched the tv off and ran to her.

"Shhh, Louise! Hey I'm sorry," I picked her up but she wasn't used to me being nice. I always teased her.

"Put me down! You hate me!" Louise yelled. I put a finger to her lips and held her tight. I needed to start not being horrible to everyone. Starting with her, and then I would go to Seth.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I'll tell you a story, ok? Just, please don't wake mum up. That CD was very important," I pleaded her. After a few seconds she nodded and I carried her downstairs, and laid her on the sofa. I took the disk out of the DVD player and kneeled down in front of my little sister.

"Tell me a happy story," Louise demanded me. I sighed and then an idea came to me. I took a deep breath and began.

"There once was a little girl, and she was following a white butterfly through the forest. Then when she got to the middle there was a gathering of fairies, with silver wings and flowers in their hair. They were around a tree, a big oak tree. And the tree was speaking to them, telling them that he was going to give one lucky fairy a special gift. And for some reason the tree got confused and sent the gift to the little girl instead. She had the power to control water and fire and wind. The fairies were distraught because they wanted the gift and a human wasn't supposed to have it. They sent her back to the human world and she forgot all about the day. But then, one night, some evil witches and trolls came to their land and started to destroy the trees and castles there. The fairies did what they could, but soon the trolls would take over their land. So they had to call on the girl with the water power and she managed to drown all the trolls and witches with the water, and the fairies were forever grateful. So they let her stay in their land for as long as she wanted. The end," I smiled at Louise and she smiled back. We were friends now, I hoped. I put Peppa Pig on the tv and left the house with a note to my mum, telling her I'd be back soon.

"Seth?" I called through the trees. the wind blew my hair forwards and around my face so I reached towards my wrist for a hair and. But then realised I didn't pick one up before I left. A noise made me jump.

"Here," Seth said from behind me passing me a band. I was grateful and tied my long hair back in a high ponytail.

"You've got to stop popping out of nowhere," I told him sternly. He just jumped down from the branch. I swear he would have smiled at that remark a week ago. "So when do we start," I asked him.

"You're so eager. You're different," Seth stared at me, wide eyed. His eyes changed colour right in front of mine, from a dark blue to a bright green. It reminded me of when I first met him. His eyes were that shade of green.

"I've decided that if didn't help, the guilt would never go away. I have to train. And fast," I replied to him honestly. He gave me a tiny smile, but his sadness was obvious. His family was in danger, and his whole worldly might disappear. But I had a question. "How did the goblins even get into your land? I mean, we would have seen them. Where do they live? In the forest?" I asked him. He raised his eyebrows.

"They are invisible to humans. You can see them because you're part fay. That's why there are some unexplainable murders in the world, it's because the goblins have got tired of doing nothing and like to kill a few people once in a while. They don't actually need to eat."

"At all?" I wondered aloud. Seth nodded at me and then turned me around and led me east through the bushes and the plants. I followed him to a very small pond where some fish were swimming around silently, minding their own business. Then, Seth thought for a moment.

"No, that was a stupid idea," he said to himself aloud. I straightened up.

"What?" I asked him, watching the fish swim around in the water freely. I wanted to know what he had to say, even if it wasn't that good an idea.

"I can teach you how to control the water, but I was trying to find something for you to make with the water. Something that could be a weapon."

"And?" I said.

"Well, I was thinking, fireballs. But you could use water and you could throw them to put out the fires and knock the goblins out if you threw them hard enough," Seth said almost asking me if it was a good idea.

"That's a fine idea. But I'm not sure if I'll be able to do anything amazing today," I told him. He seemed to perk up a bit. We crouched down next to the water.

"The boy with the gift of wind, his names Aaron. He told me that this is how you control your element. He said find an object and then focus on it and picture that thing doing what you want the water to do. So look at the details and the way it's fixed together, and picture it getting bigger or smaller, or moving around. Go on, pick something," Seth taught me, gazing around for something I could use as well.

I picked a clock-dandelion and let Seth hold it in front of me. I looked at the soft white texture and and the tiny brown seeds dotted around the stem. Then I pictured it getting bigger, and bigger, until it was the size of a football. I kept staring, and making the dandelion bigger. The white fur moved with the wind, and some of the seeds began to fly off in different directions.

"Sen?" Seth's voice distracted me and I lost my concentration. The seeds fell back to the stem and the plant was soon the same size as a small orange. I huffed.

"What? I might have been getting somewhere then. I _almost_ had it," I shot him an annoyed glare. But it didn't do half as much damage to him as he did to me with his glares.

"You've been staring at that thing for more than ten minutes and nothing has happened. Maybe you should try something else," he replied sternly. My hands balled into fists and I turned back around, snatching the dandelion off him and twiddling it between my fingers.

"No, this _will_ work. It's _got_ to work," I focused on the plant again. Half an hour passed of continuous concentration, but still nothing. Maybe I was doing it wrong. I turned to Seth. "Ok then, give me another idea. This obviously isn't working," I sighed and looked at my watch. I had left at ten in the morning and already it was 12:00 noon. I waited for Seth to speak, surely he had more than one idea of how I could control my element!

"Well, I can't exactly change the idea, but I can mix some potion, and it could help. Unless you want to carry on as you are," Seth asked me. I was already shaking my head.

"No more potions. Who knows what that stuff could do to me, if I'm only part fay, maybe it's stronger or something. Anyway, I won't have potions in the battle," I replied. I had had enough of potions in my life, and as far as I was concerned, I didn't like them.

"Well actually, you could have them in battle. If I made enough, anyway you could at least give it a try. It's not going to hurt you," he answered to me and began taking a moss bag off of his shoulder. I gave in to him and watched how he made the potion.

He took three test tubes out of the bag and then a bigger test tube and balanced it on a test tube rack. The next events were a blur of his hands, using a pipette to put drops of one liquid into the bigger test tube, and mixing the three colour mixtures together. Finally he put everything back into his bag apart from the bigger test tube, and took some kind of bottled spray from his bag.

"Am I going to have to drink that?" I asked Seth, pointing at the grey liquid. It looked disgusting, but there didn't look like there was much of it. Seth ignored me and sprayed the bottle of mist over the test tube. It was amazing, the grey liquid changed colour and soon it looked exactly like water. He passed me the tube.

"There you go. It will help you to focus," Seth told me. He put all his equipment back in the moss bag and slung it back over his shoulder. I stared at him in awe.

"You're amazing! How did you do that?" I asked him, my dark brown eyes wide. He looked down and shrugged.

"It's not amazing. I'm the lowest species of fay, all I do is mix the potions and ship them off to the queen at the other side of the land. Unfortunately for us, the queen decided that she would make her castle out of ice, so she won't last very long when the goblins get round to her," Seth told me sternly, but his voice was tinged with sadness. I decided to act bold.

"_If_ the goblins get to her. Which they won't because you will have trained me to control water and be strong against the pull I feel in the forests by then," my eyes turned misty. "I would like to go and see the queens part of the land, it must be beautiful if everything's in ice and snow," I say to him. He put a hand over his mouth in terror. I inched back, snapping out of my dreamlike state. "What?"

"Only the highest rank of the fay can go there," he replied harshly. I wanted to know more, and Seth read my mind. "There are summer and winter, and only an average of eight winter fay are born every 100 years. The rest of our population are summer, and stay in our 3/4 of land. Nobody goes in winter, nobody comes out. It's a bit confusing with the ranks-" he explained.

"No, tell me. I'm sure I can understand. I could tell by his facial expressions that this, in particular, was not a subject he usually spoke about. But I put on my innocent face, and waited. Seth did a mix of sighing and huffing and rolled his eyes.

"Ok, well there are ranks inside ranks. Overall, winter fay are higher, and summer fay are lower. This has been debated in my land, but we think the only reason why the winter fay are classed higher is because that's where the queen lives, in her _ice castle_," he frowned in disgust. "It's not like she actually _does_ anything but sit in a chair and tell people what to do," then Seth gasped at himself and covered his mouth with his hands, like he didn't believe what he had just said. "I never said that!" he told me angrily, and I could tell he was trying to look tough. But his eyes told me that he was more scared. She must be a strict ruler, I thought to myself.

"Ok, Ok!" I held my hands up in surrender. "I got you. Tell me about the ranks." Seth shrunk back to his spot and his hands were placed on his lap. I frowned, confused.l, and slightly angry. "You've got to stop doing that," I muttered under my breath. Unfortunately he heard.

"What? What am I doing?" Seth replied. I stared at him. He really didn't know what I was on about. I sighed in my head. Somebody had got tell him.

"Every time somebody asks you a question that you don't like talking about you go all small and innocent, and it makes me feel like I'm torturing you for answers," I said sternly. He turned his head slightly in awe-obviously wasn't aware of this. I raised my eyebrows. "You really didn't know that?" I asked. He huffed and picked a daisy from the grass.

"Look, can we stop talking about me and try and focus on what I brought you down here for? Trying to create a water-ball, remember?" he held the daiat in front of my face and I layed back down. This was _so_ boring.

"But what about the rank-" Seth put a finger on my lips.

"No more questions today. We have to get on with this! You do know that it could be only a month before the-... _they_ get to winter." I shivered.

"You can do this, Sen," I told myself quietly. So quietly that it was only myself that could hear.

So it was back to gazing at flowers. The daisies' petals looked so smooth and pure. Like the snow would be in the winter this year, and for the fay. That's another question I needed to ask, whether they had Autumn and spring, not just summer and winter. I really wanted to go to the fay-world. I needed to stop calling it that. It had to have a name.

The middle of the daisy was little spots of pollen which were golden and shined in the sun. At least I didn't have hay fever. The stem of the plant was beautiful too, and when you held it to the light you could see the texture and the stripes of the surface.

And that's when I had it. After two hours of staring an getting distracted, I finally had it. It was when I was getting frustrated actually, when it worked. I was in the expansion process when I heard Seth gasp. I inched around ever so slightly to the pond, and almost gasped myself. A single, tiny drop of water wound it's way from the water and began to get bigger. I tried harder than I had all day and watched as in my mind, the daisy got bigger, and in real life, the water drop got bigger. It was as big as the palm of my hand when I could stop focusing on the plant.

"That's a miracle. You've got it on your first day," Seth complimented me. I smiled warmly and reached out my hand to the drop. I didn't get very far when the drop came towards me, floated through the air and into my hand. It felt weightless. I was memorized by the jelly-like clear liquid I was holding.

"Hey Seth, feel this... It's fantastic," I asked him. But he shook his head.

"I can't. If I touch it it will disappear. Remember, I don't have the same powers as you." I gazed at the water in my hand. It wasn't making my hand wet, and I was just watching the clear liquid like a cat to a piece of cheese. It was after a few minutes when I had decided what to do with it.

"I think I'm going to try chucking it at something, and watch the impact. For all we know, this could just knock someone back a few inches. And I know I need to put out the fires, but the goblins still have a good chance of winning if I don't join in the fight. Maybe I could rescue the other elemental fay who have been taken... Anyway, what shall I throw this at?" I asked Seth. We both looked around, but there was nothing that seemed right. Then Seth stared at my eyes and past them, and into my heart.

"Throw it at me. I'm the only thing even remotely like goblin. Then you can see the impact," he started. My free hand flew to my mouth.

"No! I'm not throwing stuff at you! What if you hurt yourself?" I gasped at him in horror. After all he'd done for me, I wasn't going to injure him! He shook his head.

"I'll be fine, really. Just imagine I'm that Chloe girl in your class, and it Will come naturally."

"You realise I am doing this for you. I don't want to have a natural instinct to hurt people, and I mean innocent people. The goblins are better dead, then God can tell them off and chuck them into hell. If you actually believe in that stuff," I added. But Seth was paying no attention to what I was saying. Instead he was standing like a target about five meters away to my left.

"I want to you chuck it at me," Seth said. I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh really. Well I don't want to so there," I snapped and turned my back on him. I heard him chuckle and imagined him smiling.

"You're so stubborn. But you don't know how funny you are when you get angry," he replied, still stiffling a laugh. I spun around in annoyance and used my hands to spin the ball of water fast in my hands. Then I threw it, and it hit him right in the face. He doubled over and landed on the floor. It took me a few seconds to realise what I'd potentially done.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, are you Ok?" I ran to his side. He was coughing loudly and struggled to sit up. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"It's not that... bad... I think..." he tried to act tough. I could tell it hurt more than he was showing.

"Stop trying to be the big guy, tell me how much it really hurts," I replied playfully. He glared at me out of the corner of his eye, then closed it again.

"Can you get me some of the purple stuff from my bag?" he asked me. I slid the bag off his shoulder and started rummaging around for the right liquid. There was only one purple bottle, and I handed it to him.

He poured a few drops of the liquid into his mouth and swallowed. I waited for something to happen, but he just sighed and sat up.

"What just happened?" I asked him, eyes wide with curiosity. He put the bottle back in his bag.

"It's a healing elixir. I'm fine now, but can we try with a fire next time?" and then we both stood up. "Also, I think I have the key to how you take control over the water. It's anger. That's what you used to get the original drop and how your threw it at me," he worked out. I glanced at my watch and gasped. I'd been here more than four hours! Mum would be getting worried! I had to go right now!

"I'm sorry Seth but I have to go. My mum will be getting really worried, and I did leave note saying I'd be back soon. Thanks for everything," I jumped up and started walking. But then I stopped, ran back and hugged him. "You're a great friend," I whispered. He nodded and I let go. "I'll see you here same time on Monday."

I continued walking back through the trees. But then I had an idea and called out to him.

"By the way, Chloe has a crush on you!" I heard the all-to-familiar chuckle from back in the trees and groaned. I definitely was dreading school more than usual.


	5. Chapter 5 - A cocoon of branches

Chapter 5 - A Cocoon of branches

I had biology next, and I was glad because this was my only lesson where I sat next to Seth, that is, excluding registration. I laid my things down on my table and started chewing my pencil. This was also the best class because Chloe nor her friends participated in it. Now me and Seth stay together a lot, and sometimes sit on the benches outside. So I have somebody to talk to about stuff that I can finally talk about. Chloe thinks we're going out which is a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because she me alone when I'm with him, but a bad thing because of the teasing and laughing in classes that we share. That is when I don't have him for protection!

I have learned that life is hard, and sometimes it's a struggle to get by. But you can't get under or over something or someone, you have to go straight through the middle.

I was gazing out the window when Seth came in, and was so engrossed in watching the clouds that I didn't notice him enter the room and sit beside me. I jumped when I turned my head.

"Stop appearing when I'm not looking. You could at least tap me on the shoulder and say 'Hey Sen, blah blah blah,' and say a random question or something," I told him. He smiled.

"Hey Sen, um... what _were_ you looking at?" he told me. I rolled my eyes and moaned.

"Not now, you're supposed to say that before you appear in the chair. Just-... try it out tomorrow," I put my elbow on the table and rested my head on my hand. "I was watching a cloud." Seth laughed.

"And you think I'm boring," and then he stood up. I frowned until I noticed the teacher had come in and I was the only one sitting down. I stood up so quickly that my chair fell backwards. I could see how hard Seth was trying not to laugh. We said good afternoon to Mrs Daisy and then she left to get the biology textbooks from the storage cupboard. As soon as she had gone, Seth bust out laughing.

"You're so funny! And non-observant, you didn't even see her come in!" I elbowed him.

"If you don't stop laughing in five seconds then I'm going to get my water bottle and make some kind of water weapon and chuck right at your face like I did on Saturday. 1... 2..." and that shut him up instantly. "Wow, I must have hit you pretty hard last time," I grinned to annoy him. Then the teacher came in.

"Right, we're going to do microscopes today," and the whole class groaned and l slumped in my chair. Seth nudged me and handed me a piece of paper.

_**What's so bad about microscopes?**_

**She makes us compete and see who's the fastest. And I always come last.**

_**Well this should be easy for me, I've done extremely difficult professional training back at my land.**_

**I'll just sit back then. You do the work.**

_**That's not fair. **_

**Life isn't fair get used to it**

"How are you two getting on?" A voice came from above us. I snatched the piece of paper from the table while the teacher was looking at Seth.

"Well, we've been looking at the fifth one and Sen thinks it's cell 10. We were just going to the sixth slide," Seth smiled innocently.

"Well, you have the fifth one right Sen. Well done, I'll be coming to check on you a little bit later," and then she walked off. I thanked him for the quick answer and for letting me get the question right, then we both worked on them together. How he knew which one was right I had no clue, but he wouldn't tell me.

By the end of the lesson I was thoroughly bored and my eyelids were starting to droop. If the lesson had gone on for another ten minutes I swear I could have fallen asleep. By the way, if that line didn't just tell you, Seth did all the work. It was like he had lived for years longer than me... Then a thought struck me. When we had collected our books and were walking to the 'special' forest (the one that wasn't trying to pull me into war), I asked him.

"Seth, I've been meaning to ask you something," I looked at him. Today his eyes were light brown. He nodded.

"Yep, more questions. I've got it," he replied.

"Just don't take it as an offence, Ok?" I waited, but he didn't reply. "How old are you?" then he stopped, and turned towards me, so swiftly that he didn't make a sound.

"Fifteen, in my years..." he stuttered. This was another his non-talkable events.

"But how old are you in human years? I mean, you can't be much older than me," I looked at him questionably. He'd started walking again and I hurried to keep up.

"I'm eighteen, in your years," he said to me. I gasped.

"But, you don't look any older. I mean, you look _younger_," I told him. He smiled at the complement, but said nothing. I decided to give in and talk about something else. "What about the ever-so-complicated rankings that you failed to introduce me to last time we came down here," I pushed him. He sighed.

"Fine. As I said, there are ranks in ranks. Winter fay are _always_ classed above summer fay. There are four different ranks of summer fay, and different ranks lead you to different jobs. To start off, there's the lowest, and I'm in that part. We do the boring stuff, like mixing potions, healing elixirs and stuff to make plants grow faster. Then all our work is shipped off to the queen who never let's us have free days. She always has something to demand us to work on. Some are crazy, I mean, she wanted us to make a potion that would change human to fay and fay to human last month. How on earth she expected us to do that, I don't know. Anyway, the next lowest rank are the animal fay who stay with the animals and help them into the human world, and past the gate. This is because there are only two seasons here and the human world is where they can live normally. Then there is the next rank, they are the sky fay who are in control of the stars and the clouds which start in our world and then drift over to yours. They also make the sunsets and study special subjects in school so they can take control of the colours of the skies, darken them at night and bring light in the morning. Then there is the highest rank of summer, who are the only ones allowed past the gate and the barrier and into the human world. They are sort of spies, going into human school and coming back with news about what has changed and whether any wars have been ended. Oh, and just for your information, the only way you'd get into the winter part would be if you were going to be non-publicly executed. Which doesn't happen much, actually," he added, looking annoyed. Did he ever feel the urge to go to the ice palace? It sounded so...so beautiful, if the castle really was made of ice. But I think what Seth was annoyed about was a little bit more personal.

"Um, Seth? I'm not trying to be rude, but do you have something against your queen?" he shot me an angry glare, but then blinked and looked at the ground sadly.

"I guess so. I mean, I have no problem with queens, you need one to tell you the rules. But this queen-she disgusts me. You do realise no other queen ever created a quarter of winter lands and built ice castles. It all used to be summer, and everybody worked together. There were no high or low ranks back then. She became queen ten years ago, when Lord Evergreen passed away unexpectedly in his sleep. And then she put us into ranks and she put me in the lowest, according to my skills, well, not really skills," he told me sheepishly. I frowned, confused.

"You do have skills, Seth. I couldn't do what you have been with potions. I can see why you might want to be a sky fay or an animal or spy fay, but you are still important. If you weren't there then the queen wouldn't have stocks of healing elixirs and potions. The queen is probably struggling to keep everybody happy-" I began.

"The queen isn't struggling. She never struggles because she's in an ice castle! She built it so that she didn't have to do anything there and she could have all our hard work shipped off to her only to complain about it and give us more ridiculous quests. She's doing something in that castle, and we need to do something about it," he walked ahead and pushed himself up onto a tree.

"You think she's planning something?" I gasped. This was like a missing piece of jigsaw. It fit exactly, I mean, why else would she have shut herself up forever? Seth jumped down from the tree and pulled me over to the pond I'd been working on earlier. I groaned. "Back to this again," I sighed.

"You've been practising, haven't you?" he asked me. I fiddled with my hands nervously.

"A little," I replied. This seemed hopeless, I was never going to get it right. I'd spent loads of time practising at home but I didn't want him to know that. Because if I'd been practising that much then I would have got better, but I hadn't. I hadn't got past the first stage. But I could show him how easily I could do that. "Watch," I stared at the pond, without using a flower. I closed my eyes, picturing it expanding. And so the drop of water came out again, and it started getting bigger. I kept making it bigger, as big as I could get, bigger than I had ever got it before..

"Sen, STOP! It's too big!" I peeked out of my eye and gasped in terror. A huge water ball floated above my head, as big as three football's put together. My whole concentration dropped and it crashed to the floor, but didn't collapse, it rolled forwards and into the trees, knocking some of them down with large crashes and thumps. I sprung up and flashed my eyes to Seth.

"What do I do now? It could destroy the whole forest!" I asked. But Seth didn't reply, he was obviously so taken aback by what just happened that he was speechless. So there was only one thing for it, and I started running forwards to the yellow line.

"No! Don't cross the line, you'll know what will happen! It doesn't matter that the gate isn't in this forest, the plants don't know that! Like they have been, they'll pull you in just in case the gate is in this one!" he shouted at me. But I had to stop that waterball from destroying the forest. So I sucked in a breath and stepped over the line. My heart thumped in my chest and I had an adrenaline rush. I looked back at Seth once more and then charged across the forest floor. I could see it in the distance, rolling into trees and crashing into bushes. I was the only one who could stop this. But I needed to get there fast. I urged my legs on, running as fast as I could towards it. I was only a few meters away now, I could do this. I imagined the daisy's petals shaking, and then one by one floating off into the sky. And I watched the huge ball of water stop rolling, and I stepped back, as like a water sprinkler, tiny droplets flew off and into the sky, and disappeared into the blue.

I was smiling, but soon the smile disappeared. I stared at my arm, it was burning hot but when I looked at it nothing was there. My hands balled into fists and I exhaled deeply before my eyelids drooped and I fell onto my knees, and then I fell sideways onto the floor. I stopped breathing as my body twitched, my arm still burning like fire. I had to do something, Seth wouldn't know where I was. I used what was left of my energy to scream as loud as my body let me before collapsing back onto the floor.

I thought I was dead, but what was really happening was that the forests had had enough of me overcoming their powers, and escaping back out of them. So as I lay unconscious, twigs from a nearby bush wrapped themselves around me like a spider wrapping up a fly. And they kept entwining themselves around my still body until all there was left was a bundle of twigs and curly branches in a mess on the floor. And then the cocoon I was in pulled itself into the bush and I was gone. I had disappeared from the world, and it would have been a miracle if Seth had found me. Unfortunately he did not know where I was, but knew exactly what was happening.

What the forest was doing to me.


End file.
